Absolutely delicious. This rather small Portuguese restaurant in New Bedford, MA was the perfect ending to a great day. The food is authentic, the patrons were all speaking Portuguese and the portions are generous. Priced very competitively, maybe even less than others given the quality of the food. Service was quick and attentive. We ordered the Bife à Tronqueira, a sirloin steak in creamy garlic mustard sauce, served with an egg on top (very Portuguese) homemade chips and rice. We also got one of the best Carne Alentejana I've ever had, including in Portugal. Pan fried pork chunks with little neck clams and fried potatoes in a savory sauce topped with peppers and olives. Absolutely to die for. Can't recommend this place enough. read more

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Delicious! Wonderful flavor and great sweet potato fries. Had the Steak w/onions and peppers and it is a delight. Service was friendly and the place is very homey and relaxed. Plus they have some great drinks! read more

Alianca Restaurant - Fisherman's Platter - Portuguese Near Me - New Bedford, Massachusetts

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One of the best I ever tried for Portuguese food, great friendly service , barman and waitress were both fast and friendly , a quick lunch turned into 1:00 hr experience ! A Must try read more

Alianca Restaurant - Portuguese Near Me - New Bedford, Massachusetts

Shrimp Mozambique was 10/10 like what Antonio's used to be like (if you know you know) Sirloin steak was very very fatty. Round fries and rice were sooo good. Service was great. read more

Wow! They say you can't go home again...but here you can. My Portuguese mother passed a couple of years ago and this restaurant brought all her cooking back. Living in Texas there is no Portuguese food. It was a treat for my heart and tummy to go here. read more

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Been here many times, love it. Went the Friday of the Feast. Wondered since they are far enough away maybe not affected by it? Made a reservation just in case, Seated right away. Food was great. Service spotty, talking to lots of others seemed to take long. Again food was great but we ate every bit and sat with empty plates for so long. They cleared the plates, asked about coffee or desserts, we declined. Still more than 10 minutes till the check was brought to us. read more

Recently became a regular. High marks for food.service and ambiance. Easy to get to location with parking on site

3 times I have tried to eat here on a Saturday around noon. All 3 times I was told they weren't taking any more customers as they had platter to make. read more

Great authentic Portuguese food. We never had a bad meal. Their grilled octopus is one of the best I've had.

Tremendous authentic Portuguese spot. Great service and vibes. And awesome value. I got an awesome fish & chips for $13 that was the best fish & chips I've had in years and was at least $10 cheaper than anywhere else in New Bedford. Go here!!! read more

It makes me happy when I can give out a 5* rating (which does not happen very often). I also found the prices quite reasonable. I can't say that everything was perfect, but the service certainly was 5*+. I had a steak with mustard sauce and my wife had some sort of shrimp dish with broccoli. The shrimp were rated 5* and I'd give the steak 4.5*. I think that next time, I'll try the pork steak. A full carafe of house red wine was better than what I expect from a house wine and at a quite reasonable price. The potatoes and rice that came with the steak were fine, but nothing spectacular. 4* The bread was disappointing. 3* Had NY Cheesecake for dessert. It was good, but I've had better. 4* I'm sure to go back and try other menu items. read more

I don't understand how this place doesn't get more reviews! We got here on a Monday afternoon for lunch - so many places were closed on Mondays much to our dismay. However, this place was open and we saw how most of the staff and customers were speaking Portuguese - a good sign. There were so many great options to choose from, but we ended up with 2 codcakes, the Azorean steak, and the pork alentejana. Seriously, all were great and I would get each dish again. The codcakes were flavorful, but comfort food-like at the same time. The steak has a white wine sauce that's really vibrant, and you get 2 sides as well (we opted for salad and round french fries). The pork alentejana had the most flavor, and the potatoes were cooked perfectly - I personally could have had the pork slightly less cooked and this was not a seafood dish as there were only 3 clams (just so you know). We got the cheesecake lasagna for dessert after being informed there was no flan that day. This was surprisingly great, and exactly what it sounds - two layers each of cheesecake and crust. The only thing is that I wish I asked for the strawberry (or pineapple if you prefer) jam on the side because I hate this sort of artificial fruit flavoring. All of this was less than $50 too, including tax and tip. Such a great value meal. read more

Alianca Restaurant - Cheesecake lasagna - Portuguese Near Me - New Bedford, Massachusetts

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Love this place. Great food, great service and a very relaxing atmosphere. Stuffing in the baked stuffed shrimp is the best.

First time here feels like I died and awoke in Heaven aka Nana's House. Cacoila was warm, tender, fragrant with spices and amazing flavor. Stuffed shrimp w/scallops in saffron sauce was outstanding. Fried potatoes and rice, just like my Nana used to make in her Taunton kitchen back in the 1960s. Staff is wonderfully attentive.... Too bad this chef is heading home to Austin, Texas. I'll see You again soon Alianca!! read more

This place has AMAZING and authentic foods but the location might deter people. It's worth going to! I grew up in a Portuguese family and the food is authentic. The majority of the people there are locals and a lot of the people there will be speaking Portuguese and English. read more

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Always a wonderful place to go to. The owner is almost always there. If she is there, you most likely will be greeted by her, she is super welcoming and very nice! The service is always wonderful, and it is moderately loud, but everyone is so nice in there. When I go there, there is usually 2-4 servers working, usually 2 in the dining area and 2 in the bar. But it is a small place, so they don't need much staff. And the food, ohhhh don't get me started with the food. It is sooooo good! The steak is extremely good, but the best of all in my opinion has to be hehe octopus stew, sometimes they do not have it, which I totally understand, because octopus stew takes a long time to make. But if you want the octopus stew and they don't have it right now, I definitely suggest getting the steak with extra peppers, chefs kiss! Basically everythjng about this place is good, it is super clean, friendly, good vibes, and overall just a wonderful place to be! Definitely recommend! read more

My family really enjoys Alianca. The food is excellent and plentiful. The service is great. Servers are knowledgeable, extremely attentive without being imposing and very friendly. The dining room is extremely clean. The prices are great and I have never left there without a doggy bag. For lunch my daughter had kale soup. There was plenty of meat and the broth was very flavorful. For her entree she had the Junior Acorean Steak. The steak was big for a Junior steak. It came with plenty of sauce and garlic, egg, fries and rice. The food was nice and hot and cooked a prefect medium. She was only able to eat half of her meal. She has a canned soda with her meal. I had a red sangria. It was perfect with just the right of sweetness. For my enree, I chose the Chicken Conac. I have been here many times and this dish is now my favorite!! It comes with rice and fries and the best sauce. The brown sauce is full of garlic, onions, a few mushrooms and a touch of cream. I was not able to finish even half of my meal. We could not leave without splitting a dessert. We chose a raspberry lime cake. It was just the right size and nice and light. We chose not to have a cappuccino. The espresso and cappuccino is always just the right temperature, which is important. The owner Susie is always there making sure customers needs are being met. The servers seem to have a team approach and always help each other out. We were there just before noon on a Sunday so we were seated right away. I would suggest calling for a reservation as the dining room is small. Parking can be an issue since the restaurant borders a residential area but is definitely worth it. Alianca is by far my favorite Portuguese restaurant. I highly recommend this restaurant and will return again and again! I need to mention again that the prices can't be beat. All the drinks and food mentioned above were just under $50.00 before tax and tip. Thank you Alianca for a wonderful dining experience!! read more

Really good food in the heart of New Bedford. Nice staff. Interesting menu. I liked it. read more

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My first time .. it was excellent, food, service,ambiance. I would recommend to anyone ...reasonable pricing! Cannot wait to go back! read more

Parking was a bit of a challenge but the mild aggravation is worth it for the food. This is a family restaurant with a separate entrance if you want to visit the bar. I had shrimp Mozambique at 3 places in New Bedford and Alianca hands down was the best of the three. The Azorean steak was melt in your mouth deliciousness. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. I had a rough day and walked in with a frown but the great food and the great staff had me leaving with a warm tummy and a smile on my face. read more

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My husband and I had decided to drive out from Fall River to give this place a try after hearing them being advertised on fun 107 for weeks. Let me start by saying service was GREAT. I believe it was the owner who greeted us, super sweet woman, she was chatting it up with our son talking to him about her jeep which he LOVES jeeps. The place was pretty packed! We got in at about 8:15 and people were still filing in after us. Great sign! As we had been seated we weren't greeted by a server for awhile so I'm assuming a busser or another server noticed and asked to grab us drinks. Very nice of him, everyone treated us well. I ordered us just some waters. And when our server arrived we started with two cups of the Portuguese soup as we heard it had recently won in a local contest. It was good, but mine had barely any meat and potatoes, just beans and kale I would've preferred a little more of everything. It wasn't served piping hot which is great because we didn't have to sit and wait for it to cool and we dug right in! For our entrees I got surf and turf, New York strip and 2 baked stuffed shrimp with rice and round cut potatoes, my husband got fish in an egg batter with boiled potatoes and a side salad. My steak was not cooked as ordered, I wanted medium, warm pink center. It came out rare. I sent it back twice. She was very apologetic and definitely realized it was rare and fixed it for me. My husband waited to eat as he usually waits even if I'm already eating because he doesn't like his food hot. Even at home he won't eat right away because he doesn't enjoy piping hot food so that's nothing new. When my dish came back for the second time, she replaced my rice for fresh rice and gave me some new potatoes as well, my husband noticed a hair wrapped around his plate. Things happen, I get it. What a nightmare of a first experience at any restaurant. I was absolutely humiliated when she came out with the piece of hair in a bowl to compare it to my hair. Whether it was mine or not that was absolutely embarrassing to sit in a restaurant full of people and have a server holding a piece of hair up saying it was mine and reserving his plate to him anyway. She did offer to put the fish back in the fryer to reheat it, though. Isn't that cross contamination? I don't know but I sat there and just wanted to cry. I never moved from that table, I didn't get up to use the bathroom nothing. I sat in my chair and didn't move. Whether he had my hair on him and it fell in his plate is beyond me. But the entire situation could've and should've been handled differently. She took $10 off the bill for the inconvenience of my steak being under cooked which she really didn't have to, but it was a nice gesture. After all of that I lost my appetite so I only took one bite of my steak which had a charred taste that I absolutely do not like. But the stuffing/shrimp was really good. My potatoes were floppy and meh. Pricing is really good though. Based on the level of red my face turned I more than likely won't return based on that. But my husband did finish his plate he said it really was delicious. He really enjoyed it. read more

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I would just like to recommend this place. This is a nice Portuguese restaurant that I think serves consistently good food at a reasonable price.. When other restaurants have gone up on their prices. I think this place has tried to keep the prices reasonable. read more

Excellent food, great service, wonderful people. We will definitely go back! Really enjoyed our first time, and it won't be our last.

I loved my first experience eating delicious Portuguese food. The restaurant has a new owner Suzy who promised to keep all the favorite recipes of the founding family business. The family trusted her to carry on this 17 year restaurant, she has been with them 15 years and has some great ideas for improving marketing and restaurant presentation. The outside parking area needs attention, cigarette butts from the bar customers does not cut it for such a nice restaurant. Don't let the number of reviews fool you, this is a gem in the rough. Two blocks from the police station, I felt secure. The bar clientele are local but separate from the restaurant by a wall which preserves the restaurant ambiance and Portuguese aura. I was not fond of the bar's presentation, not up scale. Warning: To find this restaurant use the one linked to yelp. Parking is on the left side of the restaurant, but in the near future you may be able to park a little ways down at the bakery. 4.4/5 Portuguese soup. A big bowl split between the two of us as an appetizer. Very yummy. Soft well cooked kale with vegetables, various Portuguese meats and beef stock. 4/5 Portuguese steak. A delicious brown gravy over a tender, medium cooked steak topped with a slice of ham, two fried eggs (easy-over) but not runny and two pickled sweet pepper slices. Accompanied round potato fries were soft and not over cooked and the Spanish style yellow rice was very good mixed in the gravy. 3.5/5 Scallops - bacon wrapped. Fresh scallops cooked perfectly wrapped in bacon. The meal comes with the same round potatoes (recommended vs straight fries) and yellow rice. 4.5/5 Cappuccino - coffee made with milk that has been frothed up with pressurized steam, topped with a delicious whipped cream and cinnamon. Sip every sip with a bit of cream, seventh heaven, yummy. It also comes with two lemon cookies. 4.5/5 Cheese cake with yellow custard top, fluffy interior on a light granular crust. A great desert. 2.9/5 Flan - I was not used to the rice pudding granularity. Sugar crust was typical. Other reviewers seem to like it, maybe I'm more influenced by the taste of French Flan. Overall, a great experience. read more

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We were in town doing some family history research and had just finished touring the Whaling Museum. It was mid-afternoon but we had a hankering to try authentic Portuguese food for "history's sake." We chose Alianca and were very impressed. Because of the time of day, there were only a couple of patrons in the dining room, although the bar seemed hopping for a Monday! The daily specials were in Portuguese (which I don't read) so I asked our server for some help. Turns out, she is the daughter of the former owner and grew up in the restaurant! After explaining what was in each dish, I ordered the chicken/shrimp Mozambique (she was happy to do a combo since I couldn't decide) and hubby ordered the Portuguese Steak. Both dishes were AMAZING! The service was just right: not overly hovering but not ignored either. And we thought the prices were a great value for what we got (2 entrees, cheese with our bread, and a bottle of wine). Wish we lived closer so we could come back more often. read more

One of the best Portuguese spots. Little necks are delicious! I highly recommend this plac

This place is incredible and well focused on the quality on the food. The owner is friendly and helpful. 5 star overall review!!

Authentic Portuguese food. Hearty dishes that taste like they are homemade. Little necks in garlic & oil were outstanding.

I had a terrific lunch and overall experience at Alianca's for lunch after fishing for stripers and tautog. I sat at the bar so I could experience the local "feel" of the neighborhood and ended up sitting next to the owner, one son was behind the bar and served me and, about midway through my lunch, the mother dropped off a Portuguese version of tiramisu. The rabbit special had just been finished, so I went with the redfish, grilled. Whole fish, several cuts made in the flesh, beautifully done! Two glasses of different Portuguese red wine, both excellent. They do a terrific job with espresso coffee as I saw most people ordering it after lunch and witnessed it being prepared with a great looking machine at the bar. Mixing Bailey's Irish Cream was a popular way with the locals for sweetining the espresso without sugar. I ordered the flan and espresso (ended up having 2 espressos). I ended up meeting several of the locals seated near me, all fun, and very friendly people and stayed for 2 hours because it was such an enjoyable experience. Alianca's has a number of lunch specials every day and a separate dining room if you prefer. If you enjoy excellent food in a "mom and pop" restaurant with the feel of "the way it used to be", well then, this is a little slice of heaven waiting for you to show up. And when the check comes, you'll smile some more! read more

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Sorry best I can do. 15 minutes waiting for someone to acknowledge us once seated. Finally someone dropped off bread, but no plates, another 15 minutes waiting so we ate bread over napkins. When waitress came we all ordered soda, delivered in cans, with a glass of ice. We ordered 4 apps, cup chowder, good, Portuguese soup, which should have been called kale soup, Portuguese soup has chourice and beef, this did not, just ok. Shrimp Mozambique was good. And the cod fish cakes were very good. Entrees were 1 for 3. Shrimp and scallop Mozambique was good, except ran out of broccoli. Baked stuffed shrimp came burnt and the round fries were hard and uneatable on all meals. Cacoila sandwich plate was dry and small. The Portuguese steak was very small and came with a couple pieces of ham which tasted bad and were "not eaten". The steak came with an egg was covered with a gravy which was probably 2-3 tablespoons, and was bland. Overall plenty of other Portuguese restaurant options that are very good, wouldn't come back read more

Love Aliança! Never a bad experience. Chasity is a phenomenal waitress, always remembers what my family likes to eat and recommends accordingly. Jason is a great owner; mans the bar, takes orders, cooks if need be. Highly recommend for EVERYONE. read more

Alianca Restaurant - The lovely Kelly Madeira enjoying dinner at Aliança - Portuguese Near Me - New Bedford, Massachusetts

Been here a few times and I gotta say I haven't been let down yet. Got the Portuguese steak tonight with their house spicy sauce and it was perfect. Price and quality are on point here, I can't wait to come back! read more

Found this place by accident, even though I lived in NB my whole life. Been going for a couple of years now and still love it. I love the staff and the food. Usually, when I go to try a "new" Portuguese place, I go for the house steak. However, they have a billion to choose from. Something drew me to the Chicken Cognac and I haven't looked back. The steaks are real good and I know this, since my wife actually tries the different styles and I get to try hers. lol You get a ton of good food for the money and they always have specials. read more

This is the go-to place for Portuguese food in New Bedford. Despite the fact that this establishment is in a bad neighborhood (my fiancé and I saw a drug deal go down in the middle of dinner), the food is solid, the waitstaff is pleasant and the bathrooms are clean. read more

Saturday is for lunch and lunch is a destination. So, where to go? This time it was a first time lunch at Alianca. The little push needed was the special, Cabrito Guisido or stewed goat. Goat is a wonderful dish, but it has to be done correctly or it's not so wonderful. We sat down inside, a rarity these days and the place was immaculate. Within seconds of sitting down, the wife had a wonderful glass of house red and I an awesome portuguese beer. Another minute or two and we had a couple of cups of portuguese soup. Very tasty and filled with all the regular suspects, kale, potatoes, linguica, etc. So far, very good. A blink of the eyes and here comes the goat and my portuguese burger. The bride raved about the Cabrito and shared quite a bit with me. Normally a dish reserved for Portuguese clubs. My burger had ham, chourico, a fried egg and a couple of hot peppers. As I've been on a streak of bad burgers, sometimes at very upscale places, this burger was very timely. It was cooked well and fit the bun! Unfortunately, we didn't have room for espresso and their fantastic dessert menu, but we will correct that faux pau next trip! read more

Aliança is my go-to Portuguese spot in NB. No frills, just authentic Portuguese food, Portuguese staff and plastic plants. I love getting any fresh fish they have on special fried with their round fries-well done. Delish. read more

Great littlenecks :) I love to find good food in the south end of NB :) Potatoes and soup not so good, but the littlenecks were worth it :) I loved the staff! Warm, friendly, lots of good vibes! read more

What I consider to be one of the most underrated restaurants in New Bedford, Restaurant Aliança is on my list of the TOP-5 best restaurants for portuguese-style food, hands down! Everything they lay out in front of you is cooked to perfection and has a taste that you wouldn't believe! My personal favorite is the "Steak Aliança" and I recommend it to everyone looking for the perfect dinner! Great job guys! Keep up the fabulous work! read more

Friendly place but the food was nothing special, in fact, what we ordered wasn't very good. We cannot recommend it based on this visit.

Great deal and great food and 98% of the time I don't have to wait for a table.-Love the little necks and steaks are awesome. Don't let the location steer you away. You won't be disappointed read more